Red-hot Robertson leads Rio past Grenadiers

Rio Grande Sports Information
     RIO GRANDE, Ohio - Trey Robertson missed one of two would-be game-tying three-pointers in the closing seconds of Saturday's loss at Brescia.
     But he didn't miss very often during Thursday night's home tilt against a red-hot opponent in Indiana University Southeast.
     The Waverly, Ohio junior poured in a career-high 41 points to help the University of Rio Grande post an 85-77 victory over the Grenadiers in River States Conference men's basketball action at the Newt Oliver Arena.
     The 25th-ranked RedStorm snapped a two-game losing slide, improving to 14-5 overall and 5-2 inside the RSC with the win.
     IU Southeast, which had a four-game winning streak snapped, dropped to 9-9 overall and 4-3 in league play.
     Robertson hit 15 of his 25 field goal attempts, including eight of 14 tries from three-point range, while going 3-for-6 at the foul line.
     He equaled his previous career-high of 28 points in the opening half, drilling all but one of his three-pointers before the break, as Rio Grande led by as many as 13 points five separate times before settling on a 46-35 advantage at the intermission.
     The Grenadiers didn't fold, though, and opened the second half on a 9-0 run to tie the game at 46-all on a bucket by Ethan Haddaway with 17:18 left in the game.
     It was the first of three ties forged in the second half by IUS and the visitors still found themselves down by just one, 72-71, after a pair of free throws by Lane Lauderbaugh with 4:47 remaining.
     The RedStorm, who trailed just once in the contest, managed to maintain their lead thanks to three-pointers by senior Eric Butler (Orlando, FL) on each of Rio's two ensuing possessions, although IUS still found itself in a one-possession game after a layup by Lauderbaugh with 2:21 left cut the deficit to 78-75.
     However, Rio Grande scored seven of the game's final nine points over the final 1:16 of the contest to nail down the victory - just the third triumph for the RedStorm in 14 all-time meetings with the Grenadiers.
     In addition to Robertson's big night, three others reached double figures in the winning effort for Rio Grande.
     Redshirt junior Jaelin Johnson (Fairmont, WV) finished with 14 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals, while Butler had 11 points and five assists of his own.
     Senior Eythan House (Montrose, Australia) also scored 11 points, while junior Keylane Lasisi (Paris, France) had a game-high 12 rebounds and junior Jaylin Fox (South Haven, MI) added four steals and three blocked shots.
     The RedStorm shot 46.3 percent overall (31-for-67) and were 13-for-31 from three-point range (41.9%).
     Rio also committed just eight turnovers and outrebounded the Grenadiers, 33-30.
     Lauderbaugh had 24 points and three steals to lead IU Southeast, while Xavier Price and Caleb Brown had 14 and 10 points, respectively.
     Camden Pfeister had six rebounds and Trent Hinkle handed out six assists for the Grenadiers, who shot 57.4 percent overall (31-for-54) and just under 77 percent from the foul line (10-for-13).
     Rio Grande returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Indiana University-Columbus.
     Tipoff is set for 1 p.m.